I wanted... I bought... I made

We have not much on this weekend, but I already have a sweet smelling canteloupe from the local Portugese bakery and can think of nothing better than some ham and cheese to go with it for a simple Friday dinner. Saturday asparagus lasagne couldn't wait, had to have the roast beef with - simply - chips and watercress for a most divine dinner, Sunday beef made pizza muffins and salad to share with David after a pint at the pub. Monday noodle salad pork and noodles soup, Tuesday steamed pork and eggs omelette with steamed aubergine salad as well as fennel and radish salad for crunch, Wednesday we are off to see John Cooper Clark at Meltdown, Thursday a little tomato pasta. I know I definitely need garlic and coffee, and will go early to get me some bread!

Was at the market by 11 - not bad! Started at Neals Yard and they did still have bread! Bought a lovely white sourdough as well as milk and a couple of tubs of yoghurt - £11.20

Coffee from Monmouth - £11.50

Then to Ginger Pig for a forerib of beef, expensive but a truly remarkable piece of meat. John cut me a thick piece of richly marbled meat and chined the bone for easy carving. A beautiful thing! Also got some chicken carcasses to make more stock - £23

Then to Harriet's organic stall for carrots, potato - one enormous one to go with the beef! cucumber and a couple of heads of garlic - £4.80

From Turnips I bought fennel and breakfast radishes - £3.80

Bought some butter from the french dairy stall, the kind with big flakes of salt in a rich and creamy butter - £2.70

At Chegworth I could not resist the divine scent of the strawberries, 2 punnets for £3

Parma ham from the parma ham and cheese company - £4.90

Tomatoes from the Isle of White, they are very good at the moment - £3.60

Eggs from Wild Beef - £3.40

Tarragon olives from Borough Olives, an old favourite - £2.80

And then, just as I was finishing, the skies turned black and lightning rent the sky. Rain came down like a solid wall, just running across the road for the bus had me drenched. Squelched home having spent £74.70

Went out later to retrieve the umbrella I had very cleverly left the previous day in a cafe in Pimlico and bought watercress from the veg stall there and cheese from Rippon Cheese, a really interesting shop. Also bought peppers and aubergine and a bunch of basil locally.

Cinnamon Wolfe Biscuits

I do love cinnamon. When I was a kid we used to go the local shopping plaza in Sydney, a place called Miranda Fair, built and owned by none other than Westfield, the very same people who have opened in White City and are currently building the largest shopping complex in Europe at Stratford. But I digress. Saturday mornings my father would drive the family to Miranda Fair and we'd be allowed to go off on our own on the condition that we met back at a specified time at the raindrop fountain, a magnificent thing that was fine threads guiding tiny water droplets that ran from the top of the central atrium to an enormous bowl on the ground floor, like a beautiful circular rain storm in the middle of all the shops. I loved wandering about, finding new things, sniffing perfume samples and looking in bookshops trying not to spend my pocket money. That resolve would last perhaps an hour and then there would be the siren call of the donut stand, that lovely smell filling the air. My favourite thing, without doubt, was blowing my hoarded pennies buying hot donuts liberally dipped in cinnamon sugar and wrapped in a napkin to be scoffed fast as possible. At that age, sharing was not my forté.

A variation on the theme, when I was a teenager and allowed to make my own way to the shops on a Saturday morning was to while away an hour in a café drinking bottomless cups of coffee and feasting on cinnamon toast. This was the bread version of those donuts - hot buttered toast generously sprinkled with a mix of cinnamon and granular sugar. Versions of it were made at home on occasions, but it's been a while since I saw such a delight on a menu. Peculiarly Oz thing perhaps.

My baking challenge this week was an easy one after I caught sight of this recipe in the Australian Women's Weekly Bake. All that childish pleasure ripe to be revisited. It is really quick and easy, even the rolling of dough in the coating. I'm pleased to say that cinnamon and sugar tastes as good in the mouth as it does in my mind.

Cinnamon Biscuits
Makes 40-50

Crispy edges with a chewy centre, these are a delightful biscuit with coffee

250g butter, softened
1 tspn vanilla extract
110g light brown sugar
220g caster sugar
2 eggs
410g plain flour
1 tspn bicarb of soda
1/2 tspn ground nutmeg
1 tbspn caster sugar, extra
2 tspns ground cinnamon

Beat the butter, vanilla and both brown and caster sugars in a small bowl with electric mixer until it is light and fluffy - about 7 or 8 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl then stir in the sifted flour, soda and nutmeg in two batches. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes, or longer.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

Combine the extra caster sugar and cinnamon on a small plate. Roll about a tablespoon of dough into a ball then roll the ball in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Place the balls about 7cm/3 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake biscuits for about 12 minutes till golden and smelling gorgeous. Cool on trays.

And that's it - easy peasy and a total delight.

I wanted... I bought.... I made

I love great vegetables!

Apologies for intermittent blogging lately, not keeping up as well as I should but have had trips away and folks to stay. Normal service should resume...

Friday we are out and Saturday the lovely Marie is coming to visit with baby Teddy which will be a treat. Planning muffins for lunch, easy and good with salad. Dinner might be pork chops leftover muffins and snacks and bits. Sunday I have a chicken in the freezer that I want to steam then crisp the skin, think it would be good with salads roasted in plain and simple with hot boiled veg that became potato salad for lunches. Monday tofu and greens salad nicoise, Tuesday pork balls, spicy with sweet potato and salad pork chops!, Wednesday dal as I've been reading about it and have a hankering tofu and greens. Thursday omelette and salad risotto with the last of the chicken with spring onions.

Borough was busyish Friday afternoon, very odd to approach and find Flour Power gone, no more famous brownie towers or toast bread for that matter. They were told to go as the trustees claim they have grown too big, but that doesn't seem to apply to Hotel Chocolat's multinational status. The space is now filled by the plant people - largely decorative rather than edible.

Started at Neals Yard to discover they had no bread left. With flour Power usually the first stall you come to, now everyone is round the corner and into Neals Yard, cleared the lot before lunch apparently. The guy serving was just about to increase the order for the next day but not good for me. Pfff.I bought yoghurt, milk and pasta, spent £8.40

Then to Silfield as I have been fancying ham hock recently and I always buy theirs. Glad to see a hock mountain - one for me £3.50 though the guy serving said I could have 2 for £7

To Chegworth for exquisitely scented strawberries and a lovely fresh lettuce - £4.50

Cucumber from Organics - £1.30

Chocolates from L'Artisan - still a totally bargainous £2

Eggs from Wild Beef - gone up 40p a dozen but they are worth it - £3.40 now

Suddenly fancied grilled pork chops, so to Ginger Pig for 2 lovely specimens - £6.50

Wanted olives so was round to Fresh Olive, looking for green ones with tarragon but no joy. Bought green ones with jalapeno and garlic stuffed inside and they are divine. £3.50

Spent just over £33 but had very little veg.

With Booths gone shopping at Borough is a much less satisfying experience, it is such a good fruit and vegetable monger, great range and quality at reasonable prices. Turnips is still trading but they are seriously expensive, and Secretts don't even bother to put prices on their produce. Chegworth have a few little bits of very nice vegetables, Harriet has good organic stuff but a very limited range, and Ted's Veg is only there Saturdays. I've tried our local market at Oval but their veg is not very good, the fruit shop round the corner has good stuff sometimes but is not reliable and they are currently selling carrots from China. Decided this week I'd try the farmers market at Brixton Sunday - bought beautiful watercress, nice looking potatoes that sadly had almost no flavour, some fresh peas that were nice but not more and a cabbage I've yet to try. It's really frustrating after years of great produce. Next I will bite the bullet and shop at Turnips as the alternative is shopping at Maltby Street, which I'd love to do but it is a considerable schlepp, a couple of hours extra at least which is lot every week. But I may do it!

Do read about the current Borough scenario here if you have some time.

Also went to a new cheese shop in Victoria and bought some lovely bits there to top up our snack repertoire and was back to Borough early in the week for more yoghurt and milk as smoothies delight for weekend breakfasts meant we used loads.

Pizza Muffins

Fusion food at its best - pizza muffins! Giant ones at that. I'm never entirely sure where in the day muffins are meant to be eaten. I cooked up a batch for dinner Sunday night as we'd been out for lunch and these are a delightfully savoury number. Definitely not a breakfast treat but lunch? I think so. Warm from the oven they made a fab supper.

I am in the process of teaching myself to bake in the hope of opening a cafe that sells all manner of lovely salads and cakes to go with seriously good coffee and juices. It's harder than it seems - there is a requirement for precision that is simply not relevant for casseroles and soups, noodles and risotto. When it's a success I find it fascinating, when it fails I find it hugely frustrating partly because I hate failing and partly because I have insufficient understanding of the process to know where I went wrong and how to fix it. So I'm baking a lot and gradually improving.

In my quest for baking brilliance I bought the Australian Women's Weekly 'Bake' which is ENORMOUS and full of interesting recipes, some old familiars from my childhood like melting moments and coconut slice and some new things like this muffin recipe. I have made those as well a coffee walnut cake, an orange yoghurt cake and a spiced banana cake. Mostly the man takes them to work to share and get a little feedback. He is becoming very popular.

Pizza Muffins

Makes 6 but to make them again I would use a smaller hole pan and make 12

1 small red pepper
375g self raising flour
1 egg
310ml milk
80ml olive oil
60g coarsely grated cheddar cheese
20g finely grated Parmesan
60g seeded black olives, halved
35g sun dried tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped
2 tbspns basil, finely chopped
t tspns rosemary, sinely chopped
30g cheddar coarsely grated (extra)

Preheat oven to 200C/Gas 4. Grease a 6-hole texas (180ml) muffin pan.

Quarter the pepper, discard the seeds and membrane. Roast in a very hot oven, skin-side up, until the skin blisters and blackens. Put hot pepper into a bowl and cover tightlyw ith clingfilm for 5 minutes. Peel away the skin and then cut the flesh into strips.

Sift the flour into a large bowl. Stir in the egg, milk, oil, cheeses, olives, tomatoes and herbs. Do not over mix, a bit lumpy is fine. Spoon mixture inot pan holes, top with the slices of roasted pepper and then the extra cheese.

Bake muffins for about 25 minutes. Stand muffins in pan for 5 minutes then turn out, top-side up, onto a wire rack to cool.

These tasted great. I am beginning to enjoy baking so there will definitely be more - there's a whole chapter on muffins alone!

They are bigger than they look in this picture!

I wanted...I bought...I made

Really fancy making a raw mackerel tartare that I learnt to make the other day at a Total day out for a fishy Friday but there was none as the seas had been too rough so I crumbed and fried whiting and had it with jersey royals and salad, definitely asparagus for Saturday simply roasted with steamed potatoes and more salad, Sunday I would like spicy pork with rice and greens big fat pizza muffins after a fabulous lunch at Gastronomica, Monday I'm thinking noodles spicy pork rice and greens, Tuesday perhaps burgers and salad lamb burgers with the fabulous roast vegetable cous cous pictured above, Wednesday omelette with jersey royals the man was out so I made lamb burgers again only better with grated ginger, garlic and chilli and a salad of tiny greens from my garden.The joy of spring. Thursday I'm hoping for dinner out. Disappointed in that - the man is out (again!) so I'm planning pork chop soup which I love.

Borough was fairly tense Friday, a lot of the small traders are really concerned with what's happening with evictions and developments. Flour Power have now been given 30 days notice to quit for being too big?!

John was cheery as ever at the Ginger Pig though, and happily diced me some pork and I added lamb mince for burgers for a cheap total of £12.20

Then to Neals Yard for milk and bread - they now sell St John bread and it is endlessly wonderful - and yoghurt - £9.80

Coffee from Monmouth - £13

Veg from the organic stall - asparagus, a new kind of lettuce which I forget the name of but looks a bit like oak leaf, and some lovely garlic - £8.20

Needed Parmesan from Gastronomica so bought a small sheep/goat cheese as well - £16

Over to the Sussex fish stall to find the seas had been so rough Thursday they had no mackerel - so much for plans! Bought a couple of whiting which the monger kindly filleted for me - a bargain at £2

Eggs from Wild Beef - gone up 20p a dozen as the price of wheat continues upwards - £3.20 but still great value for lovely eggs

Sundried tomatoes from Borough Olives, a while since I shopped there and was served by a delightfully cheerful young woman - £1.90

Lastly olives from Turkey for a change - love their semi dried kuru sele, oily and salty and wonderful - £3

Spent £69.30 in total

Asparagus Lasagne

It is spring and the sun is shining practically daily and that is strange and wonderful after such a long cold winter as we've had. It is asparagus season and we have been eating it joyfully and mostly simply, just lightly steamed with a little melted butter and some cracked black pepper for a few weeks. I could happily continute to eat it like this for months.

Then I came across this recipe for lasagne and was instantly smitten. Not just because matching crisp asparagus with silky pasta is a kind of genius when you add cheese sauce, but because the sauce was made with chicken stock rather than milk and so has both greater depth of flavour and is lighter and more delicate at the same time. I used rocchetta for it's balanced rich creaminess but any spring like cheese would work a treat.

You could serve a salad after but it needs no accompaniment at all apart from a little crusty bread to guarantee that you mop up every skerrick of sauce.

The recipe comes from Jane Lear's blog and is an adaptation of an earlier version on Gourmet. She uses goat's cheese which would also be great, though not round ours as the man is not a fan.

Asparagus Lasagne

Serves 4

1kg asparagus, trimmed

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Coarse salt

60g unsalted butter

2 tbspns plain flour

400ml chicken or vegetable stock

½ cup water

200g rocchetta or other soft cheese, softened to room temperature and crumbled

About 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest

About 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Gruyère, plus a handful for topping

1 box no-boil lasagne sheets, the best quality you can find

200ml double cream

1. Preheat the oven to Gas6/500ºF. Cut off the tips of the asparagus spears and set them aside. In a large bowl toss the asparagus spears with the olive oil, and spread them onto a rimmed baking sheet. Roast them 5 to 10 minutes (depending on thickness), stirring them around halfway through, until they are crisp-tender. Season the roasted asparagus with salt, and, when cool enough to deal with, cut the spears into fork-friendly lengths, about ½ inch or so.

2. Melt the butter in a medium pot, add the flour, and cook over moderately low heat, whisking, about 3 minutes. Whisk in the stock and water and simmer 5 minutes. Whisk in the crumbled cheese and lemon zest and season with salt to taste; whisk the sauce until it is silky smooth.

3. Skim-coat the bottom of a buttered 20cm square baking dish with a little sauce, then make layers of pasta sheets, sauce, roasted asparagus, and Parmigiano, ending with a layer of pasta. Scatter the uncooked asparagus tips on top. In a bowl beat the cream with a pinch of salt until it holds soft peaks, and spread it over the asparagus tips. Scatter that handful of Parmesan over the whipped cream and bake the lasagne on the middle rack of the oven about 30 minutes, or until it’s bubbling around the edges and golden on top. Let it stand 10 minutes to collect itself, then cut into slices and serve.

I wanted...I bought....I made

Went to a day of cooking and eating with Total - the Greek yoghurt people - recently and made this orange yoghurt cake with some of their lovely product after as I teach myself to bake

Back again after a couple of pleasurable staycations, one south via Wiltshire to Cornwall and Dorset and another to the lovely Suffolk coastal town of Orford to make the most of lots of bank holidays and, more surprisingly, endless (feels like) sunshine and blue skies. It is lovely this spring we are having.

To follow that mood, Friday night we are at the theatre to see I am the Wind, but only for a short show, so cold collation at home after will be the perfect way to round out the evening. Saturday I am making asparagus lasagne, an outrageously decadent idea I came across on the web. Sunday we are out to lunch at the endlessly fabulous St John so dinner will be simple, perhaps spiced chicken and salads which will be good for lunch for a day or two as well. Monday more theatre, this time Rocket to the Moon at the National the man was unwell so a simple supper at home with cold chicken and fennel salad, Tuesday a book launch for Tim Wilson's Ginger Pig Meat but may have a quick pasta supper after missed the launch but had the pasta, Wednesday the lovely Vicki is over to bleach my hair so think some Chinese would be good steamed meatball pasta after home made taramasalata, Thursday salad I think - nicoise in fact.

Friday the market is much more pleasurable than Saturdays, it's not so mobbed and the traders tend to be cheery rather than overwhelmed. Started at Ginger Pig where they were selling 45 day aged rump for £18.50 a kilo but I was only momentarily tempted, bought bacon, pork mince and a chicken - £22.40

Then to Neals Yard for milk, cream, yoghurt and bread - £7.80

Tony was his cheery self at his veg stall selling english asparagus 3 bunches for a fiver which was what I needed for my lasagne

From Gastronomica I bought fresh pasta, a rocchetta and some spring goat/ewe's milk cheese that is utterly lush - £18.60

Then to the Parma Ham company for their exquisite parma ham and a couple of balls of buffalo mozzarella - £10.80

Wandering around to find Richard at the Wild Beef stall I noticed a sign at the Mons stall saying it was their last week and sadly I've just heard that they have been evicted from the market along with The Ham & Cheese Company and Kappacasein, in fact a total of eight traders are out, as 'punishment' for also trading at Maltby Street. More here

Thankfully Wild Beef is still there - got eggs for £1.50

Then to Turnips in search of rhubarb - was rewarded with a huge bundle which cost, with a lemon as well, £3.86, and noticed on the way out they have Lincolnshire asparagus at only £1.50 a bunch - really good value

Food sorted I rewarded myself with a hot sausage roll from Ginger Pig as a late lunch - £3 well spent!

Total this week is £72.96